News, articles and information about Jewish art, architecture, and historic sites. This blog includes material to be posted on the website of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (www.isjm.org).

Visiting New York last week, I confronted the recent fiery destruction of Beth HaMidrash HaGadol [n.b. the name of also often spelled Beth Hamedrash Hagodol] formerly one of the grandest and most
storied Orthodox synagogues of New York's Lower East Side. The large
two-towered building, built as a church in 1848-50 and subsequently purchased and converted to use as a Russian Orthodox synagogue
in 1885, irrevocably burned on May 14, 2017.

New York. NY. Beth HaMidrash HaGadol at the beginning of the 20th century. Photo: Jewish Encyclopedia

The synagogue remained in good condition through most the tenure of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, a Holocaust survivor of the Kovno Ghetto, who
wrote The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry, who presided there from 1952 until his death in 2003. The building began to seriously deteriorate in the 1990s. The fate of
the synagogue has been in jeopardy for at least a decade, and it had been
closed since 2007. Rabbi Mendel Greenbaum, seemingly acting on his own, filed a “hardship application” with the Landmarks Preservation Commission in December 2012 seeking permission to demolish the building to allow for residential development. Previously, in 2009, 3 congregants held a meeting in
which they agreed to sell the building for $10 to Beth HaMidrash
Restoration Inc., a Type "C" charitable corporation under section 201
under NYS not-for-profit state law. in which 3 people were named as officers of
Beth HaMidrash Restoration Inc. One of these individuals died in 2014 (you need to
have at least 3 board members).

In my experience, it is reasonable to assume that a non-religious charitable organization of a "Friends of" type, separate from the religious organization, would be needed to seek and receive certain types of grants and reach a larger donor pool, such groups are usually established by the IRS as 501 (c) charities, not the less transparent New York State "201 (C)". While admittedly not-for-profit law is complex, it seems to me that a 201 (C) is more likely to be part of a housing redevelopment project than one for renewal or restoration of an historic religious property. On the other hand, it may be much quicker to set up a the NYC charity than go through the IRS filing and review. According to an article by Allegra Hobbs:

[Rabbi] Greenbaum said he had been in talks shortly before the fire to sell the
synagogue's air rights to developer Gotham Development, an arrangement
that would ensure repairs for the house of worship. The deal would
also facilitate the development of affordable housing and a community
center on a neighboring property owned by the Chinese-American Planning
Council, which runs the senior center next door.

It seems to me that while now it is possible that the entire synagogue site could be used for housing, it is also possible that the site could become an historic park with synagogue ruins and historical information, and the air rights could still be sold. I'll be writing examples of such arrangements in future posts.

While the application for demolition was withdrawn in 2013, there appears to have been little effort to protect and preserve the building. There is no public evidence of fund raising or restoration work done since the sale to Beth HaMidrash
Restoration Inc. While saving the building would have been a massive undertaking, the success of other preservation projects suggests this could have been possible if it had been the real intent. In the past, substantial preservation funds granted by outside agencies went unused. Two weeks ago the congregation submitted a request for demolition of the ruins.

Now the Lower
East Side community, city safety experts, the NY Landmarks Preservation
Board, and profit-scenting developers are debating the ruins' fate. Some
say tear them down immediately and develop the property for profit;
others say go slow and see about developing a project that conserves some
remnant of the structure and serves the community. Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who has often been a mediating figure between local developers and neighborhood preservation groups, expressed concern over demolition
plans. In a statement she said "When this devastating fire occurred, I held out hope that this vital
piece of the Lower East Side's history could be preserved for future
generations ... I still hope that a
portion of this historic structure can be saved. I urge all of the
parties involved to work together to explore every option to prevent the
full demolition of this sacred building."

Unlike the ruin of
the midtown Central Synagogue when it was burned nearly 20 years ago, Beth HaMidrash
does not have a waiting congregation or an insurance settlement to help
rebuild. In any case, Beth HaMidrash HaGadol is so destroyed that even
rebuilding would not bring back its historic fabric - which was mostly the sanctuary interior. Even that interior had been compromised in recent years, Neglect and then closing of the building led to extensive damp and
mold issues, and other conservation problems, which would have made the preservation of much of the woodwork difficult. On June 20th, the local Community Board #3 Landmarks Committee took testimony about the
future of the ruins. Their fate in the short term depends on what danger
city inspectors believe the standing walls pose. The site is fenced off, and while a superficial
look suggest they are mostly stable - including the solid brick apsed
ark wall - it is hard to say whether this wall or the remains of the
facade tower would withstand high winds and rain, or the vibrations of heavy equipment removing other rubble. For sure, in Eastern
Europe I've seen walls much like these stand as ruins for generations.
But even if the walls were deemed safe - at least now - the rest of the
building debris needs to be cleared way. To do this with heavy equipment
and salvage the walls is tricky and expensive business.

At the CB# 3 meeting, Dr. Elissa Sampson, a geographer and historian of the Lower East Side, longtime activist in LES religious and cultural affairs, and my Jewish Studies Program colleague at Cornell University, began her testimony summing up the situation:

The loss of a building can tear a hole in people's hearts as
well as in a Lower East Side street's fabric. One of the most famous landmarked
synagogues in New York, Beth HaMidrash HaGadol, was destroyed by fire on May
14th. While most importantly there was no loss of life, there is a vital loss
of place and we are now all dealing with the tragic aftermath. Among other
things, the synagogue's existence was a critical marker of the rapid mass
immigration of Eastern European Jews to the United States. I think that there
is no disagreement here as to importance of appropriately dealing with whatever
DOB’s determination is regarding the demolition of most of the building.

While we don't know fully what can reasonably be saved now,
it is eminently clear that with some real effort the building could have been
saved before the fire. Instead, each year we watched how bidding went higher
even as the building continued to deteriorate further to the point of
dereliction. As late as March, 2013, Robert Silman Engineering was brought in
by LPC, funded by NY Landmarks Conservancy, and they determined that the
exterior of the building could be saved. Equivalent exercises had taken place
over the years. There is no shadenfreude here; what eventually happened
seems to be a case of coming to the table far too late for the building’s sake.

It is hard to imagine anyone taking the effort to save these ruins when those responsible neglected the building for so long, citing financial hardship as a primary reason. This building could have been saved if the owners - a less-than-transparent restoration coterie set up by the congregation - had really wanted to to save the structure. It is not ironic - but rather a significant factor that led to the neglect - that the building site is worth a lot of money, and when the building is fully gone money will almost rain from heaven. True, when the building stood significant income that could have gone to repairs and restoration was possible by selling air rights. But now that the building is destroyed - and if the ruins are demolished - then the lot can be sold and developed for much much more - perhaps a sum in the tens of millions of dollars.

At the meeting, Rabbi Greenbaum admitted that air rights above the
landmarked building were worth an estimated $12 million before the fire,
whereas the site without landmark protection could fetch $18 million. Numerous reports indicated that the synagogue’s owners had been in
talks with the Gotham Organization — developers of the Gotham West
luxury complex on 11th Ave. in Midtown.

When asked by this reporter if the Gotham Organization idea has now
been officially dropped, Greenbaum’s consultant Thomas McMahon replied
by e-mail: “Nothing official. The idea and conversation continues to
find a way [sic] to develop the property in a way that makes sense.
Gotham was one of the respondents to a RFP [request for proposals]
issued by the CaPC [Chinese American Planning Council].”

Such lure of
money has often been attractive to other religious groups and it is
understandable when the funds reaped from one site might be reinvested
into another, and the congregation remains a going concern. But in the
hot real estate marker of the Lower East Side small congregations - or
often a few people who speak for the entire history of a congregation -
are ready to cash out. The transactions will not be transparent, and
there is no assurance that the use of the funds will serve the public
good. Public oversight of ownership and sale of religious and charitable
properties is often lax, and also subject to political pressures.

If
the site is sold who will get this money? The small coterie that has
controlled and neglected the site for years - probably waiting for this
windfall? Since this has been a religious building off the tax rolls for
its entire existence, it would be shame - a scandal really - to see
proceeds from the destruction enrich a few. Traditionally in Jewish law proceeds from the sale of synagogue buildings go to the upkeep of cemeteries or to religious schools. By most American state law, the assets of a defunct congregation or other not-for-profit might go to the nearest similar organization (cy-pres doctrine). In this case, while the Beth HeMidrash HaGadol congregation is defunct, they have already transferred their assets - the value of the building site - to the not-for-profit 201 (C). Since the purpose of the Beth HaMidrash
Restoration Inc. was ostensibly the restoration of the building which is now not possible, could that organization now be considered defunct and it's assets transferred to other organizations, too? I'm sure many lawyers will be investigating this question (and billing for it).

Even if the building all
comes down and most funds are directed to Jewish charitable and educational needs, it would be good if some large amount of future proceeds go
into a fund - perhaps managed by the Landmarks Conservancy, the Lower East Side Conservancy or another preservation group, to assist the maintenance and restoration of
other needed Lower East Side historic buildings, or even perhaps more
specifically, local historic Jewish sites. We'll have to follow closely
who will profit from this loss.

Taking the board through a documented history of preservation evaluations and surveys of the building and the lack of any real progress over the years, Dr. Sampson was quite explicit in her recommendation to CB#3:

As long as there is reason to suspect that the main results
of development will be to the financial benefit of the individuals involved,
and that the public benefit and use of the property is not clarified through
legal paperwork or other means, I am recommending that no steps be taken toward
development or demolition other than those required by DOB’s safety recommendations.
We should not legitimate undermining the example of Rabbi Oshry, the revered
Kovno rabbi who not only led its congregation after the War, but landmarked its
building in 1967 to purposely prevent its demolition. If the proposal is indeed
to put his name on what is in effect a new building, we need to be asking now
what that new building will be, what community purpose will it serve, what will
it look like, and what will surround it in terms of other new development. And
we need to know in the public interest how the money trail works for what is
ostensibly a publicly regulated charity

At the end of the hearing the Community Board 3 Landmarks Committee passed a resolution
to protect as much as can be saved of the original structure after
public safety is taken into account. They declared in part the approval of "the application for demolition, but urges the Landmarks
Preservation Commission, Department of Buildings, the Chinese American
Planning Council and the Synagogue to work together with the structural
engineers to determine which elements of the Synagogue can be retained
safely and that those elements be incorporated into any new building on
the lot.”

Beth HaMidrash HaGadol had previously been a Baptist and
then a Methodist Church, and after its conversion to synagogue use in 1895 architects Shneider & Herter were hired to strengthen and remodel the building. In the 20th century much of the added exterior ornament of the building was removed, probably for safety and to avoid the expense of maintaining it. A very thorough congregational and building history is provided on Wikipedia.

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This blog provides news and opinion articles about Jewish art, architecture and historic sites - especially those where something new is happening. Developed in connection with news gathering for the International Survey of Jewish Monuments website (www.isjm.org), this blog highlights some of the most interesting Jewish sites around the world, and the most pressing issues affecting them.